


Heroes of a New Era

by InkedMyths



Category: LinkedUniverse - Fandom, The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Gen, TRY AND STOP ME, hey myth maybe you shouldn't ramble in the tags, my jam, we're gonna have fun here
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-16
Updated: 2019-08-16
Packaged: 2020-01-14 18:51:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,305
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18482272
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InkedMyths/pseuds/InkedMyths
Summary: The land of Hyrule is a vast place, bustling with cities and people. The modern age flourishes, from the great skyscrapers with thousands of computers to the rural farms with tractors milling about. Magic exists, yes, but it is nothing like the old fairytales speak of. All those legendary blades and powerful instruments have been lost to the sands of time. There's no impending prophecy of doom, no heroes, no magical Triforce bearers. There haven't been for who knows how many thousands of years.Of course, such a long period of dormancy means that it will reawaken with quite the bang.Such a bang, in fact, that there are several who rise to the occasion.How peculiar.





	1. This seems to be the start of something

In retrospect, it should have been obvious that this would happen sooner or later.

Regardless of that fact, which Link chose to ignore for the moment being, this was not a good situation. He leaped over a fallen log, branches scraping through his jeans. One of the monsters dove at his head, screeching. How it was screeching was beyond him. As far as he could tell, it had no mouth. Just a single, glaring yellow eye that radiated malicious intent. Two leathery wings kept it airborne, and small claws were outstretched on it's feet. Small though they were, he'd already learned the hard way that they were razor sharp and perfectly capable of cutting him.

Several of the bat-like things were chasing him as he sprinted through the woods. What were these woods again? He didn't know. He didn't care. What he wanted to know was where these things had even come from. Monsters almost never came this close to civilization. It was odd, and, more importantly, a hazard for people. Specifically him right now.

It was becoming clear to him that he wasn't going to be able to lose them before he was exhausted. Link had a rather impressive stamina, especially for someone his age. But he couldn't run forever. The only other option was to fight back against them. Another screech punctuated this statement.

Mumbling a curse under his breath, he slowed to a stop in a clearing. Plunging a hand into his vest pocket, he pulled out the only weapon he had on hand: a pocket knife. It wasn't much, but it would have to do. He whirled around to face the oncoming flock.

Eyes darting, he counted four, no, five of the monsters. They circled around him, eyes boring into him as they prepared to attack. He raised his arm, knife at the ready. Every lesson on using a knife spun through his head. How should he attack them? He figured going for the eye was a fairly good bet. A gleaming target. Stab that and it would die. Hopefully.

One dove at his face, and he yelped, ducking. He swung upwards at it, missing entirely. Another one dove. Another swing. He clipped it this time, but it didn't seem to do much damage to the creature. Hylia help him, if he couldn't figure this out he was in trouble.

Third time was the charm, as it turned out. As the monster dove at him, he stabbed his knife directly into its eye. It let out a horrid screech before going still. It fell to the ground, leaving Link with slime and what he could only assume was its blood all over his knife and hand. He grimaced.  _Pretend it's mud. You've dealt with mud plenty of times._ It definitely wasn't mud, but he'd deal with that later. He brandished his weapon, facing the rest of the monsters. Despite having slain one of them, they didn't seem deterred.

Finally, after several more swings and squelches, they all were dead. Link let out a sigh of relief. Sweat trickled down his forehead, making his brown bangs stick to his face. He would have brushed it out of his eyes, but decided against it. His left hand and wrist were drenched in slime and blood, and more of it was spattered across the rest of him. He groaned inwardly. Impa was going to get so mad at him. He really like this vest, too. Zelda had gotten it for him several months ago, and he hardly went a day without wearing it. Would this stuff even wash out? It smelled kind of bad on top of it's already inherent grossness as well. Maybe there was an online tutorial of how to get monster guts out of clothing.

"That was quite impressive, young man."

Link yelped and spun around. He relaxed when he saw the elderly man who had walked up behind him. He was clearly getting on in years, dressed in a worn red coat and carrying something wrapped in a cloth. "Geez, you startled me."

The old man chuckled. "My apologies. I was only coming to congratulate you on your victory here. You really made work out of those Keese."

So that's what they were called. "Uh, thanks? They started chasing me, so I had to figure out something."

"That so? Have you ever done this before?"

Link shook his head. "I've haven't encountered a monster up close like this in years. When I was younger I ran into a bokoblin, but that was way out in the middle of nowhere. I've never even glimpsed a monster this close to a city..."

The old man muttered something. Link could have sworn he said something about dark times ahead, but- "So you're a wanderer, eh?"

"Wait, I uh... yeah, I guess."

The old man hummed. "All by yourself? With only that pocket knife as defense?"

"Well, yeah. I mean, I don't usually have trouble..."

A mysterious smile played along the man's lips. "That may be, however... it's dangerous to go alone. Here, take this." He handed Link the long object wrapped in cloth.

Link furrowed his brows in confusion. Carefully unfolding the white cotton, he gasped aloud when he saw what it was. A sheathed sword in a scabbard lay wrapped up. He tossed aside the cloth and carefully unsheathed the blade. It was nothing remarkable, as far as blades went. But it was still a sword. The afternoon sun glinted off the grey metal, reflecting the light into his eyes momentarily. He blinked, shaking his head slightly.  _Hang on,_ he thought, lowering the weapon.  _Why is a seventy-some-odd man walking around in the woods with a sword?_ He looked up, his mouth open and the question on his lips.

But the man was gone.

He blinked. Must move pretty fast for an old guy...

He looked down at the sword still in his hand. A shiver ran up his spine. He couldn't say for sure what had led him to this place in time. He was a wanderer at heart, and as such he tended to wander right into some sticky situations. Needless to say, he didn't have much in the way of fortune telling. If he did, he would have avoided half of the scars he now carried on his body.

But something about this felt like the beginning of something. Something big.


	2. Home, where the heart and the tired nanny are

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Other than the sword and monster goo, this is a pretty normal night.

Link made a point of taking 'the back way' when heading back to the Raymond's home. Some would say this was perilous, as the back way involved dark streets with questionable people and objects. While they would be right in saying that, he didn't really care for two reasons. The first one was the fact that he knew he could handle just about anything that he ran into. The second one was he'd rather not terrify other people with the fact that he was covered in drying Keese gunk and was carrying a sword. Hopefully these very aspects would make any shady characters avoid him as well. After all, who wanted to pit a tiny knife against a much bigger, longer knife?

Said blade felt heavy in his hand. In a figurative way. While it was no feather weight, he had no trouble carrying it. No, it wasn't physically heavy. But he couldn't help the feeling he'd been handed a heavy burden by taking the weapon. Which was silly, he thought. This wasn't one of those fairytales where a wizard hands off a magic blade to the chosen one. This was not some magical blade, just a regular sword (as regular as a sword could be).

Link was also most certainly not 'the chosen one' of any story. He was no hero, just a sixteen-year old boy who'd spent too much of his life on the streets. He wasn't Prince Charming by his standards; his shaggy brown hair fell over his swamp-colored eyes, he had a roundish nose, and wore long-sleeved shirts, torn jeans and a vest. All of which had at least a little monster slime spattered on it at this point. Quite far from some legendary knight in shining armor. If anyone thought he was some kind of child of prophecy, they had to be delusional.

Which was what he was thinking that old man may have been. What reason would he have had to even have this blade, much less give it to some teenager who happened to run by and stab a bunch of bats with a pocket knife, was completely beyond Link. Maybe he was just really eccentric? Hard to say for sure.

Link decided he would think about it later. Right now he was coming up on the neighborhood where the Raymonds, and therefore he, currently lived.

Entering the row of houses never failed to make him feel out of place. It was a rather high class area, with well kept lawns and blooming flowerbeds. As he made his way towards the house, one of the neighbors spotted him as she watered a small flower. "Good gracious Link! Aren't you a mess tonight."

He waved sheepishly. "Hey Emilia. I, uh, had a bit of an interesting evening."

The woman shook her head. "You always do. Dare I say Impa won't be happy about the state you're in."

Link winced. "Yeah, I know... speaking of which, I should hurry. The less late I am the better."

"Goodnight Link!" She waved at him as he jogged away down the sidewalk.

It wasn't long before he finally stood in front of the Raymonds's house. The three-story building stood tall above him, only a few lower windows alight. He took a deep breath before stepping up to the porch and opening the door. "I'm back!"

"Link!" Zelda's voice echoed from the direction of the kitchen, and footsteps sounded voming near. "You're finally home! I was beginning to get worried-" She stopped when she saw him in the doorway. "What on earth?"

He rubbed the back of his neck, chuckling nervously. "I know I'm a bit of a mess..."

"I'll say!" Link looked up to see Impa, the housekeeper, coming down the stairs with a look of disapproval painted on her face. "What trouble did you go looking for today? Another gang? Prank war gone wrong?"

"I don't go looking for trouble! Trouble finds me! Today it just happened to be in the form of a flock of Keese."

Impa raised her eyebrows. "Monsters? So am I to assume that this substance all over you is...?"

Link looked down at his vest. "Keese grease, yeah. I stabbed them with my pocket knife, which isn't really efficient, but at that time I didn't have a better weapon."

"Link... is that a sword?" Zelda sounded both tired and concerned.

"Oh, uh, yeah, funny story." He held up the sheathed blade. "After I'd stabbed the Keese, some random old dude came up and handed me this."

"Why?" Link only shruggged in response. Even after contemplating it the entire trek home, he was no closer to an answer.

Impa cleared her throat. "Strange elderly men with weapons aside, you are a mess. Take those clothes off this instant and get in the tub." She pointed upstairs. He kicked off his tennis shoes, and started up the stairs before she stopped him. "Sword," she said, holding out her hand.

"Oh, right." He carefully handed it to the elderly woman. She tucked it under her arm before pointing up the stairs once again. "I'm going!"

* * *

Link lay awake that night. He'd been in bed for two hours, but just couldn't sleep. He felt too uneasy.

It wasn't that the trouble was overly upsetting. He'd had plenty of rough situations over the years. That was life when you lived on the streets: rough. What bothered him was the kind of trouble he'd run into.

Sure, he guessed it was possible it was just a random bunch of monsters that had wandered nearby for whatever reason. It could happen at any time, it was just unlikely. Despite these reassurances he kept repeating to himself, the feeling wouldn't go away. What had brought those Keese so close to civilization? In broad daylight as well. Not to mention the old man bearing the sword. Why had he been out there? He couldn't shake the feeling that his presence was somehow connected to the monsters. But that was impossible!

He rolled over on his side, trying to clear his mind. This was ridiculous. A couple of weird incidents had occured that day, that's all. He'd dealt with plenty of odd things in his life. After all, he was the guy who'd hit a gang member in the face with a toy school bus, and then comforted the guy when he had a mental break down over the item. People were strange. As for the monsters, it was likely just random chance.

There was nothing else to it. Everything would continue on as normal.

 


	3. An ordinary morning talk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a fitful night, morning comes. Time to talk things out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Four months. That's how long I let this sit. Ugh.  
> Anyway, I did this as a live write in the LU server, and it's really gotten those ideas spinning again. Hope you've all enjoyed!

Link blinked the sleep out of his eyes. Morning light filtered through the blinds over his window, blinding him momentarily. Covering his eyes, he lay still for a moment. Mornings weren't his strong suit.

He rolled over in his bed. Squinting through the bleariness of lingering slumber, he checked the time. 10:18. He'd slept in. Impa was always unhappy when he did that. The sooner he got up, the better off he would be.

Still, it took several minutes to convince himself to sit up. What time had he fallen asleep last night? Late, very late. He'd gotten back well after sundown, and then had cleaned up. After that, sleep came slowly. 

Finally, he sat up with a groan. He felt sore, and his legs stung as he shifted them in his pajamas. Had they hurt this much yesterday? He figured he'd been too hopped up on his own adrenaline to notice. Even though he'd been wearing jeans, they'd still gotten pretty scraped up when he'd been running from those Keese.

Keese. That's right, he'd run into a flock of monsters. He'd almost forgotten. How could he forget that? Then again, it was so out there that he wondered if maybe he was mixing up his dream with reality. After all, a flock of monsters so close to the city? Unheard of! And then there was the whole thing with the old man and the sword...

He looked up, eyes flitting about his room. It was fairly simple, or as simple as he could keep it without Zelda's influence. She insisted he have some nice things for decoration. It seemed to be something that ran in the Raymond family. Impa, on the other hand, seemed to appreciate his lack of possessions in his room. Probably because it made it easier to keep clean. In any case, it was easy to pick out the unfamiliar object in the otherwise familiar setting.

There, leaning against the wall, was the sword. Wrapped neatly in the cloth it had been handed to him in, it almost looked at home with the few knickknacks he had. It looked like Impa had wiped it down of anything he'd gotten on it, which he was grateful of. Those monster guts were nasty, and it had gotten all over his hands.

Shaking his head, he stood up and stretched. So yesterday's events hadn't been a dream. Well, he wasn't going to dwell on all that now. He'd done plenty of that the previous night. Today was a new day. A normal day. In fact, it would probably seem horrendously boring in comparison to last night.

After getting dressed in a T-shirt and a pair of jeans, he opened his door and headed downstairs. The smell of food wafted up to him, and he smiled. Breakfast sounded amazing right now. He was starving! Come to think of it, had he eaten anything the previous evening? Looking back, he was pretty sure he'd forgotten to eat dinner in all the excitement. Oh well. More room for food now.

Zelda looked up as he entered the kitchen. "Good morning Link! I was wondering when you'd be down."

"Half expected you to sleep through the afternoon," Impa said, rinsing off a plate and placing it on the drying rack. "Your breakfast has gotten cold by now."

"Oh hush, Impa. He probably needed his sleep." Zelda turned back to him, sliding over a plate of scrambled eggs, bacon and toast along with a glass of orange juice. "Here. It's not piping hot, but it's not really cold either."

"Thanks!" Link plopped down in a stool at the counter. He scooped a bite of eggs into his mouth, then sat back. Hot or not, they tasted like heaven. Trying to restrain himself from horking it all down, he focused on savoring to flavor of his next few bites. 

After a moment of letting him eat, Zelda spoke. "How are you feeling?"

Link swallowed another bite. "Pretty good, now that I've got food."

Zelda furrowed her brows. "I mean, after you got back yesterday, I was worried..."

Link paused, glancing up from his plate. Deep blue eyes shining with worry met his, and he felt a pang of guilt. "I'm alright. I banged my knee on a log, but other than that and a few scrapes from branches and stuff I'm fine."

Impa harrumphed from her place at the sink. "You're lucky you're unhurt. Disturbing a bunch of monsters is a good way to lose a limb."

"I didn't disturb them!" he protested. "I was just walking around the trail in the woods back behind the Rupee Mart when I heard screeching and looked up to see one of them flying at my face!"

"The Evergreen Trail?" Zelda frowned. "That's so close to the city. Why would there be monsters there?"

Link's eyes dropped back to his plate. He could feel his appetite draining away as the thoughts from the previous night came tumbling back. "I was wondering the same thing. I have no idea."

They were all quiet for a moment. Then Impa spoke again. "So you were minding your own business when you were attacked?"

Link nodded. "They came out of nowhere! I mean, I guess they could have been hiding in the trees or something..."

"How'd you escape?" Zelda asked, leaning forward.

Link laughed nervously. "I, uh, didn't really. After I'd been running for awhile and failed to lose them, I um... decided to try and fight them?"

Zelda gasped. "Link! Why on earth?"

"I didn't really have much choice! I'd been running long enough that I was starting to get tired, and they were still on my tail."

"Why didn't you just run back into the streets? Try and duck inside a store or something?"

Link fidgeted, rubbing the back of his neck. "Well I uh, I thought about it. But I couldn't help but think that, like, they were already so close to the city, so they would probably follow me even when I left the woods. I was worried that if I did, you know, go into a building and get away from them that they might... I dunno, go after some other person who happened to be walking around?"

Impa sighed. "Always the selfless one..." she muttered, shaking her head.

He swallowed, his mouth feeling dry. "It was probably pretty stupid, yeah, but I didn't really have time to think things through."

Impa looked over at him, raising an eyebrow. "I assume your decision to fight them is why you came back a mess?"

Nodding, Link smiled sheepishly. "Yeah, I wasn't expecting them to uh, spurt stuff when stabbed?"

Zelda made a face. "That's disgusting."

"It really was. It didn't help that since I was using my pocket knife I was super short ranged, so it got all over my hand and arm and stuff."

Zelda gaped at him. "You fought off a bunch of monsters? With a pocket knife?

Link winced. "Yeah... but like I said, my options were pretty limited."

"Still! Just a little pocket knife? What about that sword you brought back? Why not use that?"

"Oh, that? I got it, uh, after the fact."

"You said something about an old man handing it to you?" Impa prompted.

"Yeah..." Link thought back to the elderly man he'd run into the previous day. "He came up to me after I'd stabbed the last one, sort of, I don't know... congratulating me?"

"And then he handed you the sword?" Zelda asked, tipping her head to the side in confusion.

"Yeah, kind of. He was like, 'It's dangerous to go alone, take this' or something, then handed me the sword."

"Weird... didn't you ask him why he was giving it to you?"

"I was going to, but..." He paused, then shook his head with an embarrassed chuckle. "I know this sounds crazy or cliche or whatever, but when I looked up, he was gone."

Zelda frowned at him. "Gone? Just like that?"

Link shrugged. "Pretty much. I looked around, but I didn't see him. It was getting late by then, so I headed back here after that."

"That's it?"

"Yep."

Zelda's lips pursed as she thought this over. She twisted a strand of her ginger hair, a habit she had when she was in deep thought about something. "Why would he just stand there and watch though? Surely he could have helped somehow?"

Link shook his head. "I don't think so. He seemed pretty old to me, and not very athletic or anything."

"Looks can be deceiving," Impa said, smiling wryly at him. "After all, I am an 'elder' and I can still heft those boxes of Clovis's books."

Link laughed. "That's true, I guess."

Zelda was still thinking. "Why would he just be carrying that thing around? How long was he watching you?" She shook her head, sighing. "Well, I'm glad you're okay."

"What are you going to do with that sword?" Impa asked.

Link mulled this over. He'd been debating over it a little, but had come to no sound conclusion yet. "Well..." he began. "I don't see any real reason to get rid of it. It's pretty cool, actually." All the confusing stuff aside, the fact that he now had a real, honest-to-Hylia sword was, in all truth, awesome. Why wouldn't he keep it?

"So you're just going to keep it up in your room then?" Zelda asked.

"Well, yeah. Maybe I can get a thing to display it on the wall. It'll make a great conversation piece," he joked.

"But you won't be taking it with you anywhere?" Zelda clarified.

"No way. I mean, why would I?"

"In case you run into more, what were they called, Keese?"

Link shook his head, laughing now. "Pff, no. It was just an unlucky coincidence I ran into those things. They probably got blown off course by the winds the other night and happened to be roosting there." The more he thought about it, the more it made sense. It was just another one of those weird incidents that happened on occasion to keep life interesting. As he decided on this, he felt lighter. What had he been so worried about?

"So you'll just keep it as decoration?"

"Yeah, pretty much. After all, what are the chances I'd actually need it?"


	4. The busy roads

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Link takes a break. Meanwhile, elsewhere, someone else has a busier day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't want to take too long before I started introducing the others...

After he'd finished eating breakfast and cleaned up, Link decided he was going to relax on the second floor balcony. As much as he loved going out and about, he needed a day in. Sort of. The balcony was technically outside.

  
He leaned forward against the railing, breathing in the afternoon air. It was another warm mid-August day. Butterflies flitted about the flowers in the garden alongside bumblebees and dragonflies. The sun was high in the sky. He could hear the sounds of cars driving by, and saw cars rush by along the roads as people went to and from wherever they needed to be. The hazy skyline of the downtown skyscrapers stretched off in the distance. Another day.

  
It was nice up here. He loved the view from the balcony, and it was a good way to satisfy his need for fresh air when he didn't feel much like going anywhere. The Raymond's really did have a nice home, even if he thought it was a bit much. But they were wealthy, so he guessed it made sense.

  
Behind him, the sliding door opened. Link didn't need to look to know who it was.

  
"I figured you'd be up here," Zelda said, sidling next to him. She looked out over the view. "Nice day today." He nodded.

  
They were quiet for a moment. Then Zelda spoke again. "Not going out today?"

  
He shook his head. "Nah, I figure I'll take a break after the wild ride I had yesterday."

  
She giggled slightly, then went stopoed as her face grew concerned. "You really aren't hurt, right?"

  
"Huh? Oh, no, I'm fine. I told you, only a few little scrapes."

  
"What about your knee? You said you hit it on a log or something."

  
He'd forgotten how much she paid attention to stuff like that. "It'll be fine. I'll just have a big ol' bruise for a few days, nothing new."

  
"Well," she said, "if you say so."

  
Link appreciated her concern, he really did. However, he also wished she wouldn't worry as much as she did. He'd only been genuinely in bad shape a couple of times. Mostly, it was similar to now: a few scrapes, a nasty bruise here and there. Whatever minor things happened while he was out and about. It wasn't like he was reckless. Well, not extremely so anyway. He could take care of himself just fine. But he knew she worried, so he didn't complain about her questioning.

  
"Looks like another busy day in Hyrule," he said, changing the subject.

  
"It's always a busy day in Hyrule."

  
"All those busy busy people."

  
Zelda smiled. "The flower shops..."

  
"Grocery stores..."

  
"Cafés..."

  
"Car repair shops..."

  
"Why did you immediately go to car repair shops?"

  
"I dunno. It just kind of came to me.

* * *

  
Clank. Clang. Clank.

  
The shop had been unusually busy that day. Not that it was ever really quiet or empty, but the amount of customers that day had been rather high. Most of them had come in for a quick oil change or tire check or whatever other mundane task people couldn't be bothered to do themselves. However, some idiot had completely busted their breaks altogether. From what he could tell, they'd hit the bottom of their car on something. Probably ran over a curb. Moron. The brakes probably weren't the only things broken there. His uncle had been working on that particular vehicle for the better part of the day, leaving him to deal with several other customers.

  
Link hated dealing with customers, but he knew his uncle had been busy.

  
Now, though, the shop was empty of other people. It was about closing time now. Just a gew more minutes until 8 PM. Then he could go home and take a goddess damned shower.

  
Link leaned against one of the vehicles left behind overnight as he waited for the clock to hit the hour. Looking in the door mirror near him, he examined himself. Tugging at the side of his hair, he frowned. He needed to re-dye the strip of pink in his hair, it was getting faded. Maybe this weekend. Maybe a trim, too? Nah, he liked it the way it was.

  
Glancing back up at the clock, he decided it was time to go get his uncle. Knowing him, he probably had no idea what time it was. Kicking aside a stray bolt, he made his way across the garage.

  
As he suspected, his uncle was still under the car with the busted brakes. He rolled his eyes, then knocked on the side of the car.

  
A grunt came from underneath the damaged vehicle. "Who's there?" He sounded surprised, as though he hadn't heard footsteps approaching. Which he probably hadn't.

  
"It's me, Uncle Dor."

  
"Ah, Link." His uncle slid out from under the car, wiping grease off his face. "Sorry about that, didn't hear you coming. What's up?"

  
"It's 8 o'clock."

  
"Is it really?" His uncle said, looking at his watch. "So it is! Must've lost track of the time. Let me get my things packed up and we'll go."

  
With a nod, Link walked off. He only had a couple things to grab before he left; phone, coat, and bag. The coat and bag were part of his work stuff, since there was no way in hell he was letting his normal stuff get anywhere near engine oil. Stuffing his phone in his back pocket, he slung his jacket and bag over his shoulder and headed to the entrance. He flipped off several of the lights on the way, leaving on whatever his uncle might need to see as he closed up shop.

  
The door shut behind him, and he took a breath of the evening air. It was late summer, so the sun hadn't quite set yet. Reds and oranges painted the sky as darkness slowly set in. It was only slightly cooler than inside the shop, a gentle breeze blowing through the air. It was welcome. The garage was stuffy.

  
The windows in the shop went dark, and the sign reading "Rosenberg's Car Repair" shut off. A moment later, his uncle stepped outside. Locking the door behind him, he nodded to Link. The two set off down the sidewalk for home.

  
It always struck Link as pretty ironic that they owned a car repair, yet walked to and from work. It wasn't an incredibly long walk, but it wasn't exactly a short one either. They almost never drove, even on days he really wished they would. It wasn't so bad now, on a warm summer evening, but it was awful on a cold and wet day in February. Now, though, he didn't mind.

  
"You take care of the Weinder's air conditioning before we left?" Doran asked, looking down at him.

  
"Of course." A lot of people would have been taken aback by his tone, but his uncle only nodded.

  
"Good, good. It was a busy day, wouldn't want to forget anything."

  
Link rolled his eyes. Then, a moment later he spoke up again. "How's that busted hunk of scrap?"

  
His uncle grunted. "They definitely hit something. Several things knocked out of alignment, and a lot of dents. I may have to replace some parts altogether."

  
Link snorted. "Serves them right for driving under the influence of stupidity."

  
"Oh come now, I'm sure it was an accident."

  
"Oh it was an accident all right. They accidentally lost their memory on how to drive."

  
His uncle chuckled, ruffling his hair. "Don't be so judgmental. You never know what really happened." He chuckled more at his nephew's annoyed eyeroll.  
"I'd be less judgmental if people weren't so stupid." Link grumbled.

  
"Now Link," Doran said, eyes sparkling in amusement. "Don't go pretending you're superior. Remind me again who dumped milk all over the counter because he was too busy looking at his phone to pay attention to where his cereal bowl was?"

  
Link stuck his tongue out in response, but even he couldn't resist a grin. That _had_ been pretty stupid on his part. He'd ended up drenched in milk, and had been pissed off about it at the time. Looking back, though, it was kind of funny. Didn't mean he'd admit it out loud.

  
This was another upside to walking home, he supposed. More time to talk. Just him and his uncle. After a long day in the shop, taking a stroll headed home and talking was... well, it was nice.

  
Not that he'd ever admit it out loud, though.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FYI for those who may be confused, they haven't met yet, therefore have yet to gain their nicknames.


End file.
